What Do We Know At This Point About The IEEPA Tariff Refund Process?

On February 20, 2026, in its decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U.S. government had improperly relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA") to impose emergency tariffs starting in April 2025 (see Lewis Brisbois Alert). However, the Court did not provide for a process to refund, with interest, the estimated $166 billion that has been collected on millions of import entries that occurred while the IEEPA tariffs were in place.

Judge Richard Eaton, who has been designated by the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade ("CIT") to manage the refund process, ordered Customs and Border Protection ("CBP") on March 4, 2026, to take the necessary steps immediately to process all refunds with interest. Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, No. 26-01259, Dkt. No. 21. Two days later, CBP Executive Director of the Trade Programs Directorate Brandon Lord filed a Declaration stating that CBP could not feasibly process the estimated 53 million import entries on which IEEPA tariffs were paid without developing a new electronic process built on CBP's Automated Commercial Environment ("ACE") system. That process, Director Lord stated, would take 45 days. In response, Judge Eaton ordered CBP to develop this new process in a timely manner and file a progress report with the court on March 12.

The process, as CBP envisions it, is as follows:

CBP's approach will be to provide refunds on an aggregated basis to importers, as opposed to issuing payments to individual companies. While this is intended to streamline the process, the Declaration notes that more than 330,000 importers made entries that included IEEPA duties, still a very large volume to be managed.

Importers will file a declaration in the ACE system that includes a consolidated list of entries on which IEEPA duties were paid.

ACE will validate each entry, re-calculating the duty owed without the IEEPA tariffs, taking account of both interest owed on the one hand, and any other duties that were in effect for the entry on the other hand, such as Section 232 or other trade law tariffs that apply to the imports.

CBP will conduct a verification process on the importer declaration and issue refunds "as soon as practicable."

CBP will then certify the refunds, and the Department of the Treasury will issue refunds electronically.
However, we should not assume refund payments will automatically start issuing in April. The Declaration warned that "operational, legal, and technical considerations may require alterations or modifications" to these plans. Among other things, this means that even if all goes smoothly with the technical modifications to ACE, it may be necessary for CBP to adopt regulations to enable the refund process, and there are signs that the government may file an appeal and seek to stay the court's orders. Further, the steps in the Declaration identify several rounds of CBP verifications and certifications, which will clearly take time, particularly given the sheer volume of entries on which IEEPA duties were paid.

In the meantime, importers can take some steps to protect their interests. These include ensuring compliance with CBP's new electronic refund system requirements for completing the set-up process under the ACE system. The Lord Declaration notes that only 21,423 entities (mostly importers or their customs brokers) have completed the set-up process for enrollment in the ACE system, while there are more than 330,000 importers who have paid IEEPA duties or duty deposits.

Importers may find it advisable to collect all documentation regarding entries that involve IEEPA tariffs, including downloading real-time information from the ACE system, to be ready to identify and challenge any mistakes that the new CBP refund process may make. Information from that system can also facilitate compliance with administrative requirements and deadlines related to liquidation (finalization of duty payments) and protests (which must be filed within 180 days of liquidation), to preserve a company's rights. In addition, close monitoring of continuing developments in this area is necessary; for example, the CIT's order provides that refunds of IEEPA tariffs are self-executing, that is, they will not require filing a petition, but if the order were to be reversed on appeal, that situation could change, and tariff challenges are subject to a two-year statute of limitations starting when a cause of action first accrues.

In summary, a great deal of the IEEPA tariff process is still under development, with many unknowns and moving parts.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.